


Christmas Time is Family Time

by Tolazytocomeupwithaname



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Horror, Yaz is there for like five seconds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 18:36:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21184094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tolazytocomeupwithaname/pseuds/Tolazytocomeupwithaname
Summary: Family members tend to come out of the woodwork at Christmas. Even ones whose existence you'd rather try to forget.





	Christmas Time is Family Time

When Graham wakes he automatically reaches for someone who isn’t there. Right. That had been happening more and more lately. He had thought spending time travelling would help it to fade. And maybe it did. At least he never catches a glimpse of her here. Not like at home. 

That’s why he’s been more and more reluctant to spend time at home. He thinks he’s being subtle about it and maybe he even is but the Doc seems to have a sixth sense when it came to these kinds of things. Heck maybe she does. She’s never really offered any information on her species and it feels rude to ask. Like asking someone what race they are but worse. 

He suspects it’s for his sake that she suggests they all spend Christmas together. As much as he’d like to he can’t avoid the holiday completely. Ryan is young enough that he deserves a proper Christmas. Even now. Especially now. The boy needs some form of normalcy in his life. Maybe having the Doc around will be enough to distract him. 

“My family usually travel during the holidays. Dad doesn’t like all the Christmas craziness and Mum likes the chance to visit her family.” Yaz explains when the idea is suggested. 

“Sounds brilliant. Wouldn’t want to miss out on a Khan family adventure. You go while I spend some quality time with my boys.”

Yaz doesn’t look happy about being left out but she complies without too much prodding. 

“Can we go ice skating. I’m brilliant at ice skating. Or at least I used to be. I was the best at ice skating. I bet I still am. Ooh. we could have a contest. Ten points to the first one to do a lap backwards!

“Mhm that’s one idea” he says cautiously “or we could have a more traditional home based Christmas.”

“Oh yeah” Ryan says looking relieved. “That sounds much more fun than sledding.” 

“I suppose” the Doctor says not looking completely convinced as they approach the front door. “Humans usually fill shoes with sweets this time of year right? I’ve always wanted to try that.”

“Shoes? Do you mean stockings. Yeah we can probably arrange something like that.”

“Brilliant. I want to experience all the human Christmas stuff. Usually things go horribly wrong this time of year. Should be fun to experience it without all the trouble.”

“Do you mean just at Christmas or life in general.”

“Oi! Don’t be cheeky Graham. Things don’t go wrong that often.”

He blinks. Odd. He doesn’t remember Ryan and the Doctor getting out the Christmas decorations and yet they are surrounded by tinsel and sparkly baubles. His blood sugar must be getting low. 

“I’m gonna make some hot chocolate. Anyone want some?”

“I want mine with rainbow sprinkles.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he chuckled. 

He sprays a liberal amount of cream over all three mugs of hot chocolate as he studiously ignores the figure in the corner of his eye. It’s more distinct than the last time he was home. Less of an indistinct impression of a person and more of an actual human figure.

He turns and faces Her head on. She looks so real. Before he can do anything more he is distracted by a loud crash followed by a yelp of pain. He rushes into the living room just in time to see the Doctor crashing to the ground try and all in an attempt to put the star on top.

“I thought you were getting us some hot chocolate. I was promised hot chocolate” the Doctor accuses from her spot on the floor amidst the pine needles. Angel still clutched tightly in her hand. 

“I tried to tell her she was too short but you know” Ryan shrugs. 

He does. When the Doc sets her mind to something she becomes a force unto herself. 

He has no idea where she could have gotten the orange paint from but she’s managed to splatter it all over her forehead. She even has some in her hair. It’s only she rubs at it with her free hand that he realises it isn’t paint. 

“Shit. Doctor that looks bad. I’ll get the first aid kit.” Ryan says as he hurries to the bathroom. Gaze kept low so as to avoid tripping over the ornaments littering the floor. 

“Relax. I’ll be fine. I’m a fast healer me.”

“I don’t know Doc” he says crouching down beside her as he roots around his pocket for his spare tissues. “Head injuries are nothing to” he stops. She’s right. Even as he dabs at the blood away he can see that the cut had already begun to scab over. “Huh. I guess there’s no need for a first aid kit after all.” Graham frowns. Someone had gone for a first aid kit hadn’t they?

He must have been mistaken. There was no one else here other than. He risks an unnecessary glance behind him. She’s really starting to take form. He can make out Her face now. Her eyes weren't quite visible but Her attention is unmistakably focused on the Doctor. 

He reached out a hand not quite touching her but close enough that he should have been able to feel the warmth coming from her skin.

“Graham” the Doctor says evenly with only an edge of panic in her voice. “Get behind me.”

As he looks back he could swear that the figure has changed form. Just for a moment those familiar dreads had turned into a mass of curls. But just as soon as he blinks it had reverted back to it’s original shape. 

No. 

He’s wrong. 

The figure is much clearer now making it impossible to mistake her for anyone else. And yet it isn’t her. Her skin is begining to peel. Her gums black and swollen. Her eyes crueller than they had ever been in life. 

“Graham. Run.” A hand wrapped around his wrist lurches him into action. 

“What is that” 

“I’ll tell you one thing it’s not Grace” 

“Yeah I figured that much out myself thanks.”

“It’s not Grace” she repeats as if she hasn’t heard him. “It’s not Grace and it’s not,” she pauses before continuing, “it’s not Grace.” 

He drops her hand in realisation as they reach the tardis and the Doctor begins her dance around the console. “Don’t mean to interrupt Doc but did we just leave my grandson to be eaten by whatever that was.”

She stops hand hovering just above a lever. 

He’s thrown to the ground as the tardis lurches suddenly to one side. He manages to get back to his knees before being thrown in the opposite direction, mobile sliding out of his pocket and skidding across the grating. He scrambles for it desperately and dials Ryan's number. His heart drops. It doesn’t even go to voicemail. 

“Doc” he yells.

“Sorry Graham. Something really doesn’t want us to land.”

“Ryan's not answering his phone.”

She nods solemnly “Don’t worry. The old girls tough. She can handle it. I won’t fail you.”

He knows she means it. 

Finally they land. 

He doesn’t comment on the fact that she’s landed on another one of his chairs. He’s to foccused on finding his grandson.

He receives no answer when he calls. Neither does the Doctor. The pit of dread that has been settling in the bottom of his stomach since the moment he realised Ryan wasn’t with them grows. 

The house feels empty. Uninhabited. Now that he’s paying attention he realises that the whole house is covered in dust. The air has an unpleasant musky taste to it, as if no one has set foot there in a long time.

“Doc.” It’s barely a whisper. More a breath than an actual word. 

“I didn’t “ she responds just as horrified. Just as quite. As if if they don’t give voice to the thought it won’t be true. “I wouldn’t.” She doesn’t even try to sound convincing. She sticks her tongue out. Considering. She says something incomprehensible around her exposed tongue before drawing it back in. Eyes narrowed in confusion. “Huh.”

“Good huh or bad huh.”

Instead of answering she shoves her hands in her pockets face contorted in concentration. After a moment she pulls out something.

As she fiddles with it Grahams gaze drifts to the wall beside the stairs where the family pictures live. Or rather at the blank wall where the photos used to reside. 

“Doc”

“In a minute Graham” she says impatiently as he edges cautious further into the house to get a closer look. 

“No. It can’t be. Not again” she’s quite enough that he doesn’t think it's directed at him.

The carpet flickers and leaves a hardwood floor in its place before flickering back into existence. 

“Doctor” he tries again. The silence he receives on return weighs heavy in the air. 

He hardly dares to turn his head to confirm what he already knows. “Right. Okay. No need to panic.” 

The house around him felt awfully quiet now that he was on his own. The air staler than before. 

Something laying in the threadbare carpet catches his attention. The device the Doctor had been fiddling with is still there. Graham picks it up twisting it around in his hands before casting a cautious look upstairs. She’s there. It’s unmistakably Her. She disappears up the stairs and Graham follows her. Into what should be Ryan's room.

The room flickers around them from nursery to Ryan's familiar bedroom and back again.

He jabs the device in the creatures direction hopefully. The creature raises one of Her eyebrows at him.

Right. That clearly hadn’t worked. What would the Doc do? “You don’t need to hurt anyone” he tries “my friend, the Doctor, she can help you.”

Her face contorts into a cruel sneering expression that it had never taken in life.“Help me? She created me. She abandoned me. I’m doing just fine without Mummy's help.” As she speaks the room flickers between the nursery and pure pitch blackness. 

Graham presses a button at random on the device which begins to emit a high pitched noise but doesn’t seem to have any affect on Her. Graham does the only thing that makes sense. He runs. 

The world continues to flicker around him as he runs down the stairs and makes for a familiar blue box which remained constant despite the flickering. 

He risks a glance behind him and sees only nothingness before finally reaching the ship. 

He slams the tardis door behind him breathing hard. He leans against the door the silence in the ship not feeling any more natural than the silence of the house but at least he’s safe from that awful darkness. 

He’s at a loss about what to do next. 

“Please. I don’t know what to do.” 

He feels a fool talking to a box but he’s desperate. The glow inside the ships takes on a more comforting hue and a section of the console lights up. He sends up a quick prayer of thanks before approaching. A compartment has opened up, just the right size to fit the device. He slides it in. Has barely has time to will it to work before he’s thrown against the floor. And then. Nothing. 

When he wakes Ryan and the Doctor are crouching over him looking worried. He nearly cries with relief at the sight of them.

“I thought you said you could handle your liquor Gramps.”

“Sorry” the Doctor shrugs. “I should have warned you. The drinks were much more potent than the ones on earth that you’re used to.” The cut on her forehead had disappeared completely. 

“What happened” he asks standing up gingerly. 

Ryan goes to help him and Graham relishes in the contact. It’s proof his grandson is here. He’s safe. 

“The Doctor took us to the biggest Christmas party in the universe. You had too much to drink and passed out on the floor of the console.

“Huh”. It hadn’t felt like a dream. Heck getting drunk like that didn't even sound like him. 

“Hey Doc, Have you.” He pauses, considering his next words carefully. “Do you have any children?” 

She freezes knuckles whitening around a lever, her back to the humans, leaving Graham looking at her blue coat. 

“The tardis isn’t exactly child friendly Graham. Bad enough with Ryan and Yaz getting underfoot.”

“Hey. I’m nineteen not nine.”

“I’m over two thousand years old. You’re all infants to me. Have I ever told you about the planet of the infants. We should definitively pick up Yaz and go there.”

She continues to keep her back to them as she manoeuvres around the tardis console. Two thousand years was a long time. You could do a lot with that kind of lifespan and not necessarily be proud of all of it.

“Actually if it’s all the same with you Doc I’d like to go home. I’ve got some stuff to think about and I’d like some time alone to do it.”

Ryan sends him a confused look as the Doctor finally turns around. 

He softens at her expression. “I am coming back. I just need a little break is all.” She is still his friend after all. He just needs some time to reevaluate. 

“Yeah of course.” She takes a shaky breath before launching into a slightly more subdued version of her usual dance with the tardis. “Next stop Sheffield.” 

The Doctor stops him as he goes to exit the tardis. 

“Hey Graham?” she asks softly. “Why’d you ask about my kids?” 

His eyes flicker to Ryan briefly who's clearly doing his best not to look like he’s listening “You said you’ve lived for two thousand years” he does his best to shrug casually “I just thought that was a long time to be alone.” She nods as if she accepts the answer though he’s sure she knows he’s lying but she doesn’t call him out on it. They’ll talk later he’s sure. Right now though, he just wants normality.

**Author's Note:**

> I sat down to write a fluffy story about the Doctor helping Graham get through his first Christmas without Grace. I really don't know where this came from.


End file.
